


a simple misunderstanding

by MaddieandChimney



Series: Meet Cutes [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Oops, brief mention of past violence/bad temper, not the main part of the story, oh? me giving the madney some more babies?, okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26510611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: When Maddie is called to the school because her son has gotten into a fight, the last thing she expects is to come away with the other child's father's phone number and a date planned.
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Meet Cutes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927492
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	a simple misunderstanding

Wonderful.

It’s the first time she’s been called into the school, which she supposes isn’t much of an accomplishment considering Noah is only five years old. But of course, the first time has to be because he got into a fight with another student. With a girl.

It’s hard not to go immediately to the dark place in the back of her head that tells her that, despite the fact her husband has been dead for four years, perhaps violence is more genetic than she thought. Maddie had done her best to ensure Noah was brought up in a safe environment where he was loved and shown how to be kind and gentle and she can feel herself spiralling as she’s led towards the principal’s office.

Really, she’d been spiralling since the moment she had gotten the call halfway through a shift. And that was how she had found herself walking into the office, around fifteen minutes later than they asked her to be, still in her scrubs. Her eyes settle on her son for a second, who at least looks a little ashamed of himself before she glances at the little girl sitting on the other side of him, arms folded and a pout on her lips as the man next to her looks as though he would rather be anywhere other than where he is right then.

She can only assume she’s wearing the same look on her face.

“Sorry I’m late, I—” She gestures to the scrubs, hoping that gives the answer without her having to go into the fact there had been actual patients who needed her help before she could head to the school and deal with whatever lecture was going to be given. She’d heard it all before, both as a child and then when she was a little older and her parents couldn’t make it when her brother had been caught fighting on school grounds more than once. She knows that disappointed look on the woman’s face as she glances between the two children and then the parents, as though they were entirely to blame for whatever the hell happened.

Maddie moves to sit down, cutting in before anyone can say anything, “Look, I’m sure Noah is sorry for—whatever the hell he did. You’re sorry, aren’t you?”

“No.”

The stubborn look on his face is as though she’s looking in a mirror for a second and sometimes she forgets how entirely Buckley he is. His chubby cheeks are flushed red, his arms folded as he slumps down in his chair and shoots a glare at the little girl sitting next to him. The girl, to be fair to her, is wearing an equally stubborn look on her face.

“He doesn’t mean that—”

“Yes I do.”

She had brought him up to be strong-willed and determined, so she guesses this is her comeuppance for that. “I’m not sorry either!” The girl – who’s name she still doesn’t know – pipes up and her father just claps his hand to his forehead as he shakes his head. What she had hoped would be no more than a ten minute lecture is already turning into something so much more and she still doesn’t know what happened.

“Okay, okay, can someone just tell me what happened?”

“Well if you were here on time—”

The words are directed at her and she finds her head snapping towards the stranger with a raised brow, lips curled up in a frown when her glare settles on him as his does on her. “Okay, I didn’t bring you all here for you two to argue as well.” She feels as though she’s in school again being told off as she sighs, “Hannah and Noah had an argument at recess, it got physical—” Maddie can see now, when she finally looks, how their clothes are covered in dirt, biting down on her lip as her heart thumps uncomfortably against her chest already feeling as though she had failed in parenting Noah. “—and Mrs Harrison had to pull Hannah off of Noah, luckily before anyone got hurt. I’m recommending a day’s suspension, followed by a week of detention during recess.”

Both parents watch as she shuffles the papers around her desk, seemingly sounding as though she was reading from a script, “Don’t you think that’s a little harsh? I mean, they’re five, whatever they were arguing over is probably so insignificant neither of them are going to remember it in the morning.”

“Noah told me girls couldn’t run.”

“You’re lying!”

“No, that’s what he said, daddy. I asked if I could race with him and he said girls can’t.”

The man sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, “I know that’s not very nice, Hannah but that’s no excuse.”

Maddie finds herself nodding in agreement, ducking her head down to try and make eye contact with her son who finally looks up at him with those big, brown eyes she loves so much, laced with tears and she can tell by the fact his bottom lip is trembling that he’s about to let them spill. “D-didn’t say _girls_ can’t, said she can’t.”

She doesn’t care if it embarrasses him or if either of the other adults in the room thinks she’s coddling him but she quickly pulls him into her lap and wraps both her arms around him, brushing her thumb beneath his eyes. “Mikey said whoever won would get the whole ten dollars we found on the floor before school and if I let Hannah race, she’s faster so she would have won.”

Her fingers settle beneath his chin to pull his face up to look at her the second he lets the tears go, wanting to burst into tears herself when a little voice from next to her says, “I’d have just given you the ten dollars, only wanted to play.”

“See? It was just a misunderstanding, they’re sorry, right guys?” Both five-year-olds nod their heads as Noah slides off her lap and wipes at his wet cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” His little voice is genuine and any doubts she had over her own parenting and his genetics is alleviated when he holds out his hand to the gorgeous little girl who stands up too. Maddie tries not to laugh when she sees how her pigtails have gone lopsided, bits of hair fallen over her dirt covered face as her own hand outstretches.

“I’m sorry, too. Do you really think I’m faster?”

“And stronger!” Noah laughs, turning around to show her his dirt covered back, the two of them erupting into giggles.

Maddie finds herself turning back to the principal, “I really don’t think they’ll do it again, they’re five, they’re still learning.” She can see the man she still doesn’t know the name of eagerly nodding his head out of the corner of her eye. “Please? I can’t find a babysitter for him so last minute tomorrow and it’ll be a shame to have him miss a day of school and be punished for something the two of them have already forgotten.”

The woman at least seems to be relenting, her shoulders finally slumping before she nods her head, “Fine, recess detention for the rest of the week and we can leave it at that.” Both parents seem satisfied with the answer and Maddie only notices when he stands up that he’s wearing an LAFD uniform which means he’d been pulled out of a shift for this farce, too.

Noah grins up at her when she ruffles his curly hair, “Love you, momma.”

“Love you, too. Listen, Uncle Buck is going to pick you up when school is over, do you think you’ll be okay in those clothes until then?” She laughs when he rolls his eyes because of course, it’s just mud and he’s been in a lot worse messes from playing with her brother in the yard. She notices the man bending down, probably to have a similar conversation with his daughter before the two kids are given permission to leave, announcing their intention to race the other to the classroom, gone before any of the adults can tell them not to.

Neither of them say a word after they bid their goodbyes to the principal, walking in silence back out of the school and towards the parking lot. It’s not until they are outside that Maddie turns to face him, eye catching his badge reading ‘Han’ before she holds out her hand, “I’m Maddie, by the way.”

“Howie.” There’s a grin on her face when he presses his hand to hers, shaking it gently, feeling the way her cheeks flush when she notices how gorgeous his smile is. “Hey uh—I’m actually off shift this weekend, so if you wanted to get together for a playdate or something,” She tries not to linger on the ‘or something’ as she bites down on her lip, “I could give you my number? If you’re free, I just—Hannah doesn’t really have anyone her own age to hang out with outside of school and—”

“No-yeah, that would be great, I’m off this weekend, too.” She tries to ignore the slight tremble of her hands when she pulls out her phone, getting up some blank contact information and handing it to him. She’s focusing a little too much on the _or something_ as she takes a deep breath, quickly typing him a text out after he hands her phone, looking up at him when she presses send, “So you have my number, too. Have a good rest of your shift.”

They both laugh, and she can’t help but get lost in his smile once more when she steps back, “I’ll text you tonight.”

“Great, tonight.”

“Bye, Maddie.”

She shoots him a bright smile, stumbling a little towards her car as she blushes, “Bye, Howie.”


End file.
